Silvia paused for a moment at the top of the steps to catch her breath, then stepped into the observatory, her telescope under one arm, her astronomy textbook under the other. She couldn’t believe that she had not come here earlier; the place looked amazing! Walking towards the center of the room she stood in awe of the large telescope. She had only ever seen telescopes this large in pictures, never in person. The sign had said they were not allowed to use it without permission, which was fine with Silvia; she didn’t want to mess with such a magnificent object without knowing how to properly use it. Turning around, she made her way over to where numerous star charts were displayed on the wall. They had amazing detail, though Silvia wasn’t very experienced with reading them. She would have to come up another time and try copying some of the charts to study with.

Silvia spotted an unoccupied area on the other side of the observatory. She walked to it, set down her textbook, and began to set up her telescope. Pointing the telescope at a gargoyle on one of the lower turrets of the castle, she took a moment to make sure the focus seemed good. Then she picked her book back up and flipped through it. What should she look at first? she wondered. She skimmed a page, looking for a constellation that sounded interesting. Finally her eyes landed on the Phoenix. It didn’t really look all that much like a phoenix, but then very few constellations really looked like what they were supposed to be, at least in her opinion. She could make out what were supposed to be the constellation’s wings though. The first year wasn’t too sure how to go about actually locating a constellation though. She could easily spot Ursa major and minor and Orion, but that was it. So she located those on the star chart and figured out where the phoenix was in relation to them. Then, setting the book down, Silvia turned her telescope in search of the few constellations she already knew about. Once found, she used them as a guide to find the phoenix. It took awhile, but she eventually managed to locate it. She pulled out her journal from her bag and recorded her sighting.

What next? she thought. Wait a moment; aren’t there supposed to be a few planets visible? Yes, I’m pretty sure there are. It was still early in the evening, so Silvia pointed the telescope lower, closer to the horizon. She was pretty sure Venus was visible. It was the only planet Silvia had ever really seen or noticed before, but she knew how to look for it: very bright and no twinkling. Planets didn’t twinkle like stars did. It didn’t take long for her to find it. “There you are,” she said. It was so much more interesting when viewing it from a telescope than just with the eye. After looking at it for several minutes, she pulled her eye away from the telescope and recorded it in her journal as well. It was starting to get late, so she wouldn’t be able to stay up here too much longer.